I don’t know about you but one thing I found really frustrating in the pandemic (amongst other things!) was the inability to unlock my phone whilst wearing a face mask.  My dad, on the other hand, being a person slightly averse to new technologies has persisted with a phone with fingerprint … [Read More...] about How to get rid of your fingerprints

I have recently received the help of various medical and surgical colleagues (yes, doctors can fall ill too!) and aside from my general health issues, I found it interesting to hear their views on how the pandemic and these post-pandemic days are impacting on their clinical practice.   I … [Read More...] about Does losing weight improve skin conditions?

Ever since the children were little, we’ve generally gone on holidays which have involved chucking everything in the boot of the car and just driving until we reached our destination.  Initially the car was stuffed with car seats, potties and travel cots and obviously over the years this has changed … [Read More...] about Waxing lyrical about history

We all want to smell nice, that’s why there is such a massive perfume industry!  It adds that va va voom to your personal wardrobe, it makes a statement, it can even identify you as a unique individual.  Unfortunately, dermatologically approved products should never contain fragrance.  Anyone with a … [Read More...] about The pros and cons of fragrance

If the COVID pandemic has taught us one scientific thing, hopefully it is about the power of RNA based vaccines and their impact in diseases because of their shorter manufacturing times and their greater effectiveness.   It was interesting therefore to read of another use of RNA, namely … [Read More...] about A blood biomarker for acne scarring?

This is my last blog post for 2021 and one would have hoped that by now, we would be talking about something other than COVID-19.  I think we can all unanimously agree that 2020 was a bit of a write-off and certainly I know that a lot of my patients (and myself!) were hoping that 2021 would be the … [Read More...] about Patches, cups and Covid

At the time of writing this blog post, we are on holiday in Crete, enjoying a summer holiday we couldn’t have had during the school summer holidays. The little one got Covid but one month before we departed, the rest of us have been vaccinated and with the Fit to Fly’s all negative, we seem to have … [Read More...] about We are what we eat…

You would not have thought it possible, no?  Oranges are healthy, they are fruit, for goodness’ sake, and fruit’s good for you!  But actually, if you look at the science, the thought that oranges or more specifically, citrus fruit can increase your risk of skin cancer is … [Read More...] about Can oranges give you skin cancer?

My husband has two common conditions.  He has vitiligo which is relatively stable and been going for some years and he has developed some sort of hearing loss in recent years.  Now, the standard rigmarole is for him to say “Pardon?” with a perplexed expression whenever we mention it and which then … [Read More...] about Vitiligo and hearing loss…, pardon?

At the time of writing this blog, we are on our family holiday to Cumbria, opting for a UK based holiday because we’re both in professions where we can’t run the risk of us or the kids (not having been vaccinated) having to self isolate for 10 days upon our return.   Surprisingly, there … [Read More...] about Engine oil dermatitis

It was extremely interesting to read in the June edition of Clinical & Experimental Dermatology of something called narrative fallacy.   [Yesudian RI and Yesudian PD.  Case reports and narrative fallacies: the enigma of black swans in dermatology.  Clin Exp Dermatol 2021; 46: … [Read More...] about Black swans in Dermatology

The three common skin cancers are basal cell carcinomata (BCC), squamous cell carcinomata (SCC) and malignant melanomas (MM).  In the UK on the NHS, these skin cancers are triaged into their respective urgencies in order to best utilise health care resources.  So basal cell carcinomata are triaged … [Read More...] about How do we know whether an SCC will metastasise or not?

It was interesting to read in the March edition of the journal Pediatric Dermatology of a little known entity called autoimmune progesterone dermatitis.   [Aghazadeh N, Chattha A, Hartz M et al.  Autoimmune progesterone dermatitis in the adolescent population.  Pediatr Dermatol … [Read More...] about Do you get a rash which cycles with your menstrual period?

The pandemic has resulted in the removal of little warm, daily forms of interaction such as handshakes, pats, hugs, squeezes and strokes which on their own do not amount to much.  However, I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to miss them in daily life with people I don’t live with.  Have you … [Read More...] about Are you “skin hungry”?

In January’s edition of the British Journal of Dermatology is an interesting article on villainous hair, or the lack of it.   [Kyriakou G, Drivelou V & Glentis A.  Villainous hair : ba(l)d to the bone – would they be so evil if they had hair? Br J Dermatol … [Read More...] about Bald baddies